EXPERTISE
Competition & State Aid

The Romanian Competition Council revamps its guidelines on issuing guidance letters

September 2024 – On 11 September 2024 the Romanian Competition Council’s (“RCC”) Order no. 2436/2024 implementing the Guidelines on informal guidance on novel or unresolved questions arising in individual cases concerning the application of Art....

Kinstellar continues to grow its Bucharest team, adding 6 new hires in the real estate, banking and finance, and competition law areas

July 2024 – Kinstellar is pleased to announce the successful completion of a new recruitment round, welcoming six lawyers to its growing team in Bucharest. The new additions bolster the local team’s offering in the real estate, banking & finance...

First in-depth M&A investigation under the EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation: What it means for future M&A deals

June 2024 – The EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation (“FSR”) started to apply on 12 July 2023 as another instrument in the EU regulatory toolkit aimed at preventing distortions of competition on the EU internal market. In the spotlight of the framework...

Exclusive distribution agreements in the pharma sector in focus of the Serbian Competition Authority  

May 2024 – In Serbia, most of the exclusivity arrangements between pharma companies need to be, prior to their implementation, individually exempt by the Serbian Competition Authority (“SCA”). Most recently, the SCA issued two decisions in the individual...

Ukraine temporarily exempts certain foreign-to-foreign concentrations from merger control requirements

May 2024 – The Ukrainian Competition Law was amended to exempt certain transactions in the military and defence sector from merger control requirements. As a result of these amendments, merger control requirements in Ukraine will not apply to foreign-to-foreign...

Significant changes to the Hungarian Competition Act expected in the summer

April 2024 – The latest proposed amendment to the Hungarian Competition Act, recently submitted to the Hungarian Parliament, would enter into force on 1 July 2024, but it has not yet been adopted. The package of amendments would cover several areas...

AMC increases fines for competition law violations in Ukraine

April 2024 – A so-called Procedure for Determining the Amount of Fines Imposed for the Violation of Laws on the Protection of Economic Competition (the “Procedure”) issued by the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (“AMC”) in 2023, and binding...

Settlement procedure: Overview for businesses in light of Ukraine's new competition law

April 2024 – Building on established practices, and taking inspiration from the successful experiences of international partners, the Ukrainian competition authority (the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine) has introduced a settlement procedure for cartels...

Improved leniency policy: Overview for businesses in light of Ukraine's new competition law

March 2024 – A leniency procedure has been in place in Ukraine for many years. However, available data suggests it has been severely underutilised. A recent first stage of competition law reforms in Ukraine introduced, among other things, an improved...

Coffee industry leaders face EUR 2 million fine and secure a conditional merger before Serbian Competition Authority

March 2024 – On 29 February 2024, the Serbian Competition Authority (the “SCA”) published two detailed decisions involving two largest undertakings on the Serbian coffee market. The first one relates to concerted practices that resulted in a joint...